A runabout reported missing off the Coromandel coast may not have logged its return and was probably never in trouble, say police.

Police today apologised for arresting a Tokoroa woman more than five years after she lost her job when she was wrongly charged with conspiracy to commit arson and two years after the police watchdog found the investigation was botched.

Saying cheese puts a smile on Catherine Smith's face as she tours Waikato.

Food writer Leanne Kitchen has had an enviable career, including writing a new cookbook, which took her to delicious Turkish nooks and crannies.

Massive earthquake damage in Christchurch means Kirifi Mila, the New Zealand soldier killed in Afghanistan last week, will be buried in Hamilton without a formal military farewell from his army mates.

I have to go to a barbecue this week. This, in itself, isn't exactly newsworthy - even though it may very well be one of the last barbecues of the summer, which is always a poignant little mini-event worth noting.

A horror head-on collision near Karapiro yesterday afternoon left two people dead in a car which was crushed against a bank.

A Hamilton man run over by his own bus in December has left hospital.

One of the girls who allegedly attacked a fellow student at Morrinsville College last week is to be pulled out of school voluntarily by her mother.

A man is being questioned over the stabbing of three people, including a 13-year-old boy, in Hamilton last night.

Pembrook Benny could give Herlihy his 3000th winner.